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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 2016)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | December 2, 2016 | PAGE 5 AFSCME #88’s Irwin turns the page on 46-year library career Janet Irwin retired Oct. 31 after 46 years as a librarian for Mult- nomah County. At the same time, she also surrendered her seat on the Executive Board of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, where she was the sec- ond most senior member. Irwin has been a member of Multnomah County Employees AFSCME Local 88 for 26 years. Prior to that she was pres- ident and 20-year member of the independent Library Employees of Multnomah County. At that time, Portland-area libraries were privately operated by the Library Association of Portland, which received the bulk of its budget from public funds. Irwin has been a librarian in the Rose City her entire working life. After earning a masters de- gree in library science from Western Michigan University she came out west in August 1970 to be closer to her parents in Seattle. But with no library jobs available there, she ven- tured down to Portland. In Oc- tober 1970 the Library Associa- tion of Portland hired her as a temp to cover for a librarian on Janet Irwin retired after a 46-year career at Multnomah County Library. maternity leave at the Central Library downtown. She’s been employed by the library system ever since. In 1974, library employees voted to form an independent li- brary staff association. Irwin, who was branch manager at the Belmont Library, was elected treasurer. In early 1978 she was promoted to head of circulation at Central Library. She remained in the union, but resigned as treasurer because of the added work responsibilities. Irwin was at the bargaining table when the first union con- tract was ratified. Department and branch heads were no longer part of the union, but the contract had language allowing union members who had promoted to management to bump back into the union based on their union seniority. Irwin took that option. The ensuing years were diffi- cult for the union as it battled the Library Association and its di- rectors over work and budget is- sues. It got so bad that employ- ees struck for three days in 1980. “I remember walking picket lines at both Central and Rock- wood, “Irwin said. “If I had re- mained a manager, I wouldn’t have been able to strike.” Workplace strife settled down following the strike, but battles over funding continued. In July 1990, Multnomah County took over the then 15- branch library system (there are now 22 branches), and the 350 employees were incorporated into Multnomah County Em- ployees Local 88. [In November 2012, voters approved forma- tion of the Multnomah County Library District to fund library services.] “I worked very hard getting li- brary workers involved in Local 88,” said Irwin, who served as an elected vice president and secre- tary of Local 88, as well as a del- egate to state and international AFSCME conventions. She once ran unsuccessfully for president. In November 1995, Irwin was elected to the Executive Board of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council. As a Board member, she helped found the Council’s Labor History Committee. Irwin completed her library career at Central Library as an In- formation Services Librarian, working with the Oregon collec- tion, local history, and genealogy. “I’ve always wanted to be a public librarian, and I’ve always loved going to work ... until re- cently,” said Irwin, 69. “I was constantly tired. I was going to work in the dark, and coming home in the dark. Sometimes you just don’t want to do it any- more,” she said. The oldest of nine children, Irwin was born in Vancouver, Wash., but spent the first few years of her life in a housing complex at McNeil Island Fed- eral Penitentiary, where her fa- ther worked as a government employee. The Irwin family lived in several cities, including Milwaukie, Ore., before settling down in Port Huron, Mich. Ir- win graduated from high school there, then moved 170 miles west to attend Western Michi- gan University in Kalamazoo. By the time she graduated from college, her parents had been re- assigned to Seattle. Happy Holidays From Your Local Union Dentist! 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